FAMILY of a tragic businesswoman who drowned in a stream will scatter her ashes in Ibiza.
Hilary Grater spent holidays on the Mediterranean island and son Oliver said it will be the perfect place to say goodbye.
The family only wish Huddersfield interior designer Hilary had still been around to meet her unborn grandchild.
Oliver said: “My brother Greg and his partner are expecting a child and we wish mum would have been able to be there. She doted on my son Oscar and all of us.”
Yesterday, an inquest in Huddersfield heard how Oliver made the grim discovery of finding his 53-year-old mum in Fenay Beck, lying on her back with her head facing down river.
The Coroner, Roger Whittaker, recorded an accidental death verdict. He had been told Hilary had been drinking heavily and had swallowed paracetamol and other medication, which were scattered on the river bank near a bottle of rose wine.
The previous day, October 17, 2008, the distressed mum-of-two had phoned and texted members of her family.
She left a message on her ex-husband’s answer machine saying she was finally going to be reunited with her four-year-old son, who had died from meningitis.
Hilary had been living at Dogley Bar off Penistone Road in Fenay Bridge and had run into financial difficulties.
When boyfriend Jason Dyson had gone round to the house to find her, there was no sign of her and the front door was unlocked.
Oliver, 27, and a friend later found Hilary laying in the beck at the local beauty spot.
Hilary wasn’t wearing any trousers or boots and the inquest heard how Oliver had initially thought someone had assaulted his mum.
Det Sgt Simon Leek confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances in the case and said the drugs and alcohol she had taken may have made her unsteady on her feet.
He said: “From what I knew she was a very strong character and had she been lucid then perhaps she may not have drowned.”
Mr Whittaker recorded a verdict of accidental death from drowning.
